Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mit-eddie.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!mit-eddie!nessus From: nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Robyn Hitchcock Live!!!! (Also Salem 66 & Scruffy The Cat) Message-ID: <4858@mit-eddie.UUCP> Date: Sun, 4-Aug-85 13:59:22 EDT Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.4858 Posted: Sun Aug 4 13:59:22 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 5-Aug-85 07:44:06 EDT Distribution: net.music Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA Lines: 94 Keywords: Also the sad state of radio in England and Kate Bush ["I often dream of trains when I'm alone. I ride on them into another zone"] I just saw Robyn Hitchcock last night and decided to gloat over all of you that missed him, because he was so mind-blowingly great it blows the mind to think about how mind-blowingly great his music blows one's mind. It's clear that Syd Barret's mind is not dead, it just vacated his old body and now lives within Robyn Hitchcock. It also seems like some of the best parts of John Lennon's psychedelic spirit made it into Hitchcock too. He only came to the U.S. this time to do three shows, two in NYC and one in Boston, so you won't be able to see him, if you haven't already. I even got "I Often Dream Of Trains" and "Black Snake Diamond Role" autographed! Bids are being taken (only kidding!). The only disappointing thing about the show was that Hitchcock only played for a little over half an hour. But it was a half hour of complete bliss! I was about two feet away, the sound system was really good: I could understand all the lyrics, the band and Robyn played perfectly, and Hitchcock definitley radiated that Syd Barret psychedelic "What reality am I in? What is reality anyway?" aura! I talked to one of the guys in the band (Chris Cox, who played on "I Often Dream of Trains) for a few minutes. He told me that jet lag had done something awful to Robyn the last time they were here, and that he collapsed on stage in Austin Texas and had to have surgery -- that's why he cancelled out of the shows before. They did the current three shows, he said, because they had to come back to the U.S. to get their equipment anyway, so they decided to do a few shows. (Someone else told me that Hitchcock received death threats saying he had to come back and play Boston, or else...) Chris Cox also told me that Robyn Hitchcock isn't all that well known in England -- in fact 80% of his record sales are in the U.S. He said that radio in England is awful. They do everything by playlists, and if they don't put something on their playlists then it never gets heard. I told him that that is mostly true here too on commercial stations, but not at all on college stations. He said that they don't have any free-format or college stations there, and that it is really awful. So it sounds like the music scene in England isn't all that great. It seems that what appears on their charts is often a lot better than here, but that if you don't appear on the charts there then it's very difficult to get heard. I was telling him how almost all the music that I like never appears on singles charts and mentioned among others, Kate Bush. He said "But Kate Bush is a phenominal success". I explained to him that she is fairly unknown in the U.S., though, and he could barely believe that. I asked him "But didn't she disappear into obscurity even in England when she did 'The Dreaming'?" and he said something like "'The Dreaming'? I thought her last album was 'Never for Ever'?" I also want to tell you about one of the warm-up bands: Salem-66. They are really good. It's a band with three women and a guy: a female drummer, a male guitarist, a female singer / guitarist / song writer, and a female singer / bassist / song writer. The music they make is slightly poppy, slightly folky, somewhat psychedelic and good. They have a six song EP called "Salem 66" (which is missing the male member), but I don't like it as much as seeing them live, because it's not wonderfully recorded. It was a nice surprise to see Salem 66, because I had no idea they were going to be a warm-up band for Hitchcock. The other warm-up band was Scruffy The Cat. The audience seemed to like them a lot, but I didn't. They do country-style Rock 'N Roll and rockabilly and rock. It's was okay, but I'd rather have been doing something else (I guess my horrible musical predjudices are blaring through...) They definitely played their instruments very well (five guys: drummer, guitarist, guitarist / singer, bassist, banjoist / keyboardist), and they did some psychebilly that seemed okay, but .... "yawn" really. Of course, it would have been worth sitting through Scruffy the Cat for 48 hours to see half an hour of Hitchcock! Hitchcock this Saturday! Birdsongs of the Mesozoic last Saturday! Salem 66! How much pleasure is one person allowed to have in such a short period of time??? And I missed The Bobs on Friday... I suspect that if I had caught that, it would have just been too much, and the pleasure centers of my brain would have vaporized my head. On the other hand, tomorrow Kate Bush's new single is being released to radio stations. This is the first time, I believe, since 1978 a KB single has been released in the U.S. ("The Man With The Child In His Eyes" reached 88, or so). And I'm also going to a KB fan get-together that is happening because of people that called me up while I was doing The First Annual WMBR Kate Bush Birthday Special on Tuesday, so it's still likely that my head might vaporize.... "It's time to visit the planet smile It's time the love bomb was dropped It's time to eat music It's time to kiss the sun It's time to drown yourself in SOUNDGASM It's time to dance through the mirror" Doug Alan nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)